Born of Shadow (Shadow Walkers Book 1) Read online

  Metal stairs led up to the next floor on one side of the room and on the other, a number of curtained-off alcoves. Likely used for privacy. The other two walls had bars before them and the dance floor in the centre of the room was full to bursting. The DJ stood on a raised platform, behind his equipment with attractive girls crowded around him.

  I pushed past a group of women who turned and gave me the death glare for some reason and made my way to the curtained alcoves. One of them must hide a corridor that would lead to the emergency exit.

  A face in the crowd turned my way, handsome with a great jawline and piercing eyes, his expression seemed appreciative as he watched me walk by. He smiled and I could admit that it was a pretty fantastic smile. The type that would make any girls knees weaken. I did my best to ignore him though I saw him approach from the corner of my eye.

  “Hey,” he called, loud enough to be heard over the music.

  “Sorry, I need to…”

  “What?”

  “I said, sorry…” louder this time and he grinned.

  “Hey, no worries, want a drink?”

  “No,” I said firmly as I shook my head. His smile never wavered and he leaned in a little closer.

  “Just one drink? What harm could it do?”

  The others would be waiting and I didn’t want to make a scene, but the only way to get away from the pushy creep would be to kick off… or lie.

  “Sure,” I said. “Just let me use the ladies first, yeah?”

  “Come straight back,” he said as his gaze moved down my body. I bit down hard on my lip and forced a smile.

  “I will. Promise.”

  Then I was past him and headed towards the furthest alcove from the door. It was near the bar and as I pushed through the curtain, I realised I’d guessed rightly. A door with ‘EXIT’ in green light above it was set into the wall. Unfortunately, the reason they didn’t need an alarm on the door stood beside it.

  He seemed to be as wide as he was tall and his muscles fairly bulged beneath his shirt. Beady eyes stared out at me from beneath a heavy brow that would have looked more at home on a caveman than a modern human.

  His nose was bent, likely broken several times over years or brawling judging by the numerous scars on his face. A tattoo of a Chinese dragon started just above his ear and swept down over his bald head and down his neck. He was not, in any way, an indication of good life choices.

  “You’ll need to head back the way you came miss,” he said and pointed back towards the heavy curtain. I glanced back and chewed on my lip as I weighed options.

  The creep was still out there. Handsome creep, but still a creep. My friends, if that’s what I could call them, were beyond the door behind the muscular behemoth before me and I was fast running out of options.

  “I just need a breath of fresh air,” I said as I stepped closer. The wobble as I tried to maintain my balance in the shoes I’d been given would at least sell the idea that I was worse for wear.

  “Back through the club and out the main doors.”

  “Can’t I just…” I said with a nod towards the door behind him. “Please?”

  “Tell you what, love,” he said as he ran his gaze over my body, lingering around the plunging top of my dress. “Maybe you can persuade me to let you through.”

  “Ah…” I said as he stepped closer to me than I’d hoped for. I stepped aside and banged up against the wall. Crap!

  “Come on,” he said as he pushed up against me, his hand resting on my hip. I stared up into his face but nothing changed. Likely human then which was a relief. “Just a bit of fun.”

  “Not quite what I planned…” I said and sucked in a breath as his hand slid down my hip to my bare thigh. His fingers moved over my skin, seeking to push up beneath the hem of my dress.

  A tremble ran through me and he leered, his hand finally finding its way beneath my dress, sliding up my inner thigh as I cringed, pushing away from him. His body was firm, solid as a wall and I had no chance of pushing him away.

  I reached for my power, screamed silently for it, but the fear and disgust kept it beyond me. I wanted to find the anger, the rage that I needed as his hand touched the outside of my underwear, thick fingers pulling clumsily at the material.

  My forehead connected with his nose with a satisfying crunch and he cried out in pain, stepping back as his hands went to stem the blood flowing from his nose.

  “Bitch!” he said as I stepped forward. My hands grasped his shoulders firmly as I brought my knee up straight between his legs.

  “Damn right I am,” I spat at him as he curled up on the floor, one hand cradling his no doubt swollen balls and the other his broken nose. I slammed my hand down on the locking bar to the door and it swung open.

  “What happened?” Jo asked as she looked from the bouncer to me. Her face darkened as she saw the look on my face and she turned to Patrik. “Take care of this piece of shit.”

  The large man looked at the two of us and grunted. He didn’t need to know exactly what had happened. He reached down with one hand and lifted the bouncer to his feet. He took one look at me and stepped outside, dragging the injured man with him. A moment later there was a heavy thud and Patrik came back inside, letting the door close behind him.

  “You good?” Jo asked and I nodded as I hoped she wouldn’t see the trembling in my hands.

  “Then let’s go kill some vamps,” she said with a grin and pushed through the curtain.

  Chapter 11

  I could admit to a little resentment of Jo, as she pushed through the crowd ahead of me. She was, after all, in trainers and comfy jeans. No one looked twice, and though I had my ass grabbed again and more than a few leering glances, she wasn’t touched.

  Though, I was pretty sure that was more to do with her general demeanour than what she was wearing. She moved like a jungle cat. All power, unassailable confidence and lethal grace. One look at her would be enough to know that to touch, would be to lose your hand.

  It was a demeanour I could do well with emulating, I decided as we climbed the metal stairs that vibrated unpleasantly with the beat of the music. Didn’t make it any easier to climb the damn things in heels and I was far too conscious that anyone standing below could look up and see straight up my dress through the wide gaps between each step.

  The second floor was much like the first. A central dance floor, though smaller than that below and a single bar along one wall with curtained alcoves on the other. Bouncers were placed strategically before several alcoves with closed curtains and I glanced at Patrik to ask if he knew why, but he was scanning the room.

  Directly opposite the stairs we had just climbed were another set that led up to a private area, judging by the muscular man standing at the base. From where we stood, we could see up to the people gathered there.

  Men and women lounged on comfortable seating as incredibly attractive guys and girls danced and moved amongst them. I gathered that was the VIP area and only those who paid, or those who hadn’t paid but were sufficiently attractive, were allowed up.

  “Up there,” Jo said loudly directly into my ear.

  “What?”

  It was comical. The music was so loud that I had to almost shout to be heard. Hardly the best situation to discuss our plans to kill vampires.

  “You need to go up there.”

  “What will you do?” I asked.

  “We’ll hire an alcove,” she said. “Find a vampire and bring it down to join us.”

  “Wait, what? How the hell am I supposed to do that?” I glanced nervously at the crowd around us, but no one had seemed to notice or care what we were saying.

  “You look hot,” Jo said as she leaned in close. “Pale skin, red lips, you’ll draw them like flies to honey.”

  “I don’t want to draw them to me!”

  “Don’t worry, they like to use the alcoves,” she insisted. “Just make sure you steer it towards the one we’re in.”
/>   Great! Not difficult at all! I gave her a look that I hoped conveyed exactly how pissed at her suggestion I was but she just grinned and winked. She grabbed Patrik’s arm to get his attention and nodded to the alcoves.

  They pushed through the crowd towards the bar and spoke to the staff there. A few minutes later they crossed to an alcove near the VIP stairs and stepped inside, pulling closed the curtains behind them. Leaving me all alone. Just great!

  I ran my fingers through my too short hair and wished, not for the first time, that I could trust myself to grow it out. But, then, if I did grow it out, I’d just end up yanking on it and ripping it out again. Which is why I couldn’t trust myself to grow it.

  A final tug on the hem of my dress, a glare at the leering jerk who brushed past me, all the while pushing his crotch firmly against my ass, and I set off. Anything to be done with the stupid nightclub and the constant attention.

  The bouncer at the base of the VIP stairs watched me approach. He could have passed as a twin to the guy I’d head-butted. Bald, scarred and over muscled. I readied my spiel in my mind and opened my mouth to speak but he just gestured me up. I blinked and smiled sweetly at him as thanks, then I was past.

  Seemed like Jo had been right and those guys knew what their bosses liked. So all I needed to do was find one and make sure I got to the right alcove before he drank my blood. Would be easy.

  I paused at the top of the stairs, unsure what to do. A pretty young woman with long blonde hair past her shoulders and a red dress that was, if anything, shorter than mine walked over to me.

  “Hi,” she said brightly. “First time here?”

  “Ah, yeah. Yes,” I said and she nodded as she slipped one arm through mine.

  “Well, let me introduce you to a few people.”

  “You work here?” I asked and she grinned.

  “Sure do.”

  “I’m, ah, not sure what to do.”

  “That’s okay.” She patted my arm solicitously and steered me around a group of girls who frowned at me as they glanced my way.

  They were one and all, pale and painfully thin. More than one couldn’t hide the dark rings around their eyes with heavy makeup, though they’d tried. My mind went to my time in the nut house. More than one of the ‘guests’ there, had drug problems. These girls looked much like those junkies had.

  “Here,” my guide said as we reached a table that was one of several placed around the room. It was loaded with glasses and bottles of expensive looking wines. She reached out and picked up a bottle, pouring a generous portion into a glass flute before passing it to me.

  “Thanks,” I said as I took it carefully. As tempting as it was to have a drink, I couldn’t honestly say I trusted what I’d just been given.

  “No problem,” she said. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

  “Ah, just… well, what now?”

  She flashed another bright smile my way and waved one hand languidly around the open area. “Hang around and enjoy your drink. Before you’re finished, I’m sure someone will choose you.”

  “Choose me?”

  “Oh, you really are new aren’t you,” she said. Her smile never wavered and it was starting to get on my nerves.

  “I guess so.”

  “Well, one of our VIP guests will approach you and ask if you’d like to join them,” the girl said. “Depending on their whim, they may get to know you, ask you to dance or request you join them in one of the alcoves for some private time.”

  She winked at me as she said it and I didn’t know if that meant they’d want to screw me or drain me of my blood. I wasn’t entirely sure that I wanted to know and suspected in some cases, it might be both.

  “Don’t look so worried,” she said. “It will be an incredible experience for you and as you can see, leave you wanting more so badly that you’ll return, again and again.”

  I looked over to the girls she indicated, the ones that looked like nothing less than addicts. It wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement though the girl beside me seemed to believe it was. She flashed one last smile and walked away, moving smoothly back to her place beside the top of the stairs.

  She’d barely been gone a minute before a man approached me. Tall, with fashionably cut cinnamon coloured hair and brown eyes so dark they were almost black. His smile was charming and seemed designed to put me at ease. He wore his trousers too tight and his lavender shirt covered a slim torso with narrow hips and shoulders. Not exactly my type, but I plastered on a smile anyway.

  “Hi,” he said. Simple and straightforward I suppose.

  “Hey.”

  “You’re new?”

  “I guess so,” I agreed.

  “Fantastic. Join me?”

  It was less a question and more of a command. It irritated me immediately but I nodded, the barest tilt of my head and his smile widened. His eyes never left my face which was at once flattering and deeply insulting. I mean, he could have at least glanced at me since I was forced to wear the stupid dress.

  He took my hand in his and pulled me towards the top of the stairs. I set my glass down on the next table we passed and kept pace as best I could in the heels I was wearing.

  His hand, felt cold against my skin as though he were leaching away the heat. Much like the ghoul had. As he glanced back, a confident smile on his face, I held my own expression still as I saw the dark lines gathering around his eyes and mouth.

  As we reached the bottom of the stairs, he pulled me towards an open alcove and I pulled back. He glanced back, irritation clear even beneath the darkness that clouded his features and I leaned in close, skin crawling at being so close to him.

  “I reserved an alcove,” I said and indicated the one that Patrik and Jo had entered.

  “Ah, you were confident,” he replied. “I like that.”

  His smile, if anything, grew wider and more sure as we crossed to the alcove and pushed through the thick curtains.

  Patrik grabbed him as soon as he was through. One hand over his mouth and the other around his neck as he was pushed back against the wall.

  The vampire's eyes widened as he reached up to grab Patrik's arms in his hands and squeezed which elicited a grunt from the big man.

  “Quick,” he said. “The bastards strong.”

  Jo stepped forward, knife in hand. The blade gleamed and panic filled the vampires face. She grinned, showing her teeth as she thrust the knife forward, blade punching through his chest and piercing his heart.

  Fire seemed to spread outwards from the wound, beneath the skin, burning and turning it to ash as it moved. Patrik released his hold as the internal fire consumed the body fully, burning hot enough to turn the body and clothes to ash but leaving the surroundings unharmed.

  In just a few seconds, there were just a few charred bones sitting atop a pile of ash, where the vampire had stood. A wisp of smoke rose from it and I stared, open mouthed at what I’d just seen.

  “It hurt my wrist,” Patrik said as he rubbed at the place he’d been grabbed. “Must have been old to be so strong.”

  “Just dust now,” Jo said as she turned to me. “Good job, now go find us another.”

  Chapter 12

  Despite her urgent instructions for me to go out again, they insisted I let enough time pass to give the impression that the vampire had done whatever he’d been planning to do.

  “Does it always go that easy?” I asked as I eyed the pile of ash. The skull had remained mostly intact and the eye sockets seemed to be staring at me accusingly.

  “Catch them by surprise when you outnumber them,” Jo said. “Sure.”

  “Much harder one on one,” Patrik added.

  “It’s why we need to lure them down here,” Jo said with a nod of agreement to her partner. “If we tried to get up there, aside from the spectacle it would make, we’d be torn apart.”

  “Really?” I asked with more than a little apprehension. It was me, after all, who
was expected to go up and find the next victim.

  “Ja. Many vampires in here. Would be a tough fight and we would lose.”

  “You should go back up about now,” Jo said as she stood up from where she’d been lounging on the upholstered seating that filled most of the alcove. “But first…”

  She approached me with her knife out and I flinched back as she grabbed my arm. “Be still,” she hissed as she jabbed the blade down into the underside of my wrist with two quick strikes. A heavy bead of blood rose up from each puncture and I scowled at her.

  “Necessary,” she said. “They’ll expect to smell some fresh blood on you.”

  “A bit of warning would have been nice.”

  “Calm down and go get another.”

  “You’re doing fine,” Patrik said.

  I offered him a smile and accepted the tissue he offered me. Holding it against the puncture wounds for a minute before dropping it into my clutch. I had no intention of leaving any evidence behind, not that I was sure what they could do with it.

  The same bouncer waved me up the stairs again. His eyes followed me as I walked past, a slight upturn of his lips and a look of pity crossing his face. No doubt he suspected I would be like those other girls, coming back for more.

  “Back again so soon,” the girl in the red dress said as I reached the top of the stairs.

  “Is that bad?”

  “Not at all,” she cooed. “A sure sign that you enjoyed yourself. Is your companion…”

  “He said he had some business to attend to and sent me back up.”

  “Ah, of course. Well, you were certainly noticed last time. A number of VIP’s have asked for your attention.”

  “They have?”

  “Oh yes,” she smiled and dimples formed in her cheeks. “I think, you’ll be very happy with this next guest.”

  “I will?”

  The girl just linked her arm with mine and directed me through the VIP area. She led me right to the far end, a shadowed area with a single table before a wide sofa. With the night vision I had, I’d no problem seeing the lone occupant.